You, Me and Steve
by Steve the Icecube
Summary: Tony doesn't have many friends. His friends normally end up betraying him or becoming more than friends. And then Steve becomes his friend and hey presto, he loses his girlfriend. Steve/Tony, starts as Tony/Pepper


**AN: My OTP isn't actually Stony :P But I support it sometimes. 'Cause they're very cute. :) I support most of the Avengers pairings, to be honest. Especially the more unorthodox ones. Meaning the gay couples because hey, I can't help my preferences. *shrug***

Steve hadn't thought that he was getting in the way of Tony's relationship with Pepper. He had thought that he was being a good friend to the man.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

* * *

It started a few months before.

* * *

Steve walked downstairs, ignoring Pepper's warnings that Tony would probably not want to be disturbed, as he was working on something and hadn't resurfaced for days. Dummy would be taking care of him and JARVIS would alert them if it was essential that Tony left his workshop.

But there was something that told him that Tony needed someone down there. Besides, Steve would be lying if he said that he wasn't worried about Tony. According to Natasha and Pepper, it was normal behaviour for Tony, but he hadn't experienced it before, so... He was worried. He didn't know it was possible for anyone to just... Lock themselves away for a few days, not facing the light of day or seeing anyone but his robots.

And Steve didn't really count robots as proper companions for someone like Tony, who was so social around the Avengers it was annoying.

Of course, Pepper and Natasha knew Tony better than him.

So Steve wasn't that surprised to find Tony asleep on the sofa in the corner of his workshop. Sure, he was covered in grease, dirty and there looked to be a small burn on his right hand, but Tony wasn't awake and working on anything.

He was asleep...

He looked so much younger. He looked vulnerable, sort of. He didn't look like the billionaire that he looked like most of the time. Sure, Steve had seen him when he was injured, hurt and worried (but that was only that someone had kissed him), but he'd never seen Tony when he looked vulnerable.

It made him realise that Tony wasn't always sarcastic and all in all, rude, all the time.

Steve smiled and left the workshop quietly, careful not to disturb him.

"Hey Steve." Tony rasped.

Steve jumped. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

Tony sat up slowly. "Nah. I was awake, just resting my eyes." But Steve could see the signs of sleep in Tony's eyes.

"Don't try lying Stark. Look, I'm sorry I intruded. I'll go now. You can get back to sleeping." And with that, he left.

Tony sighed. "Next time, JARVIS, don't let people in when I'm sleeping. Steve almost gave me a heart attack, if that's even possible."

"I believe it isn't possible, sir. And yes, I will do that."

Tony hadn't remembered that Steve had very good hearing. Or maybe he had, Steve had no clue.

* * *

The next time Steve saw Tony was a couple of days later. As far as he knew, Pepper had dragged Tony out of his workshop and had gotten JARVIS to lock him out of it for 24 hours. Steve was, admittedly, quite grateful. Whilst Tony was in his self-inflicted solitary confinement, Bruce had left for India, Natasha and Clint had left on a mission and wouldn't be back for a few days, and Thor was still gone.

Steve had stayed, and he wasn't quite sure why. He could have gotten a flat somewhere else, or even lived on the hellicarrier, though he wasn't sure he really wanted to go with the latter. He didn't really trust Fury.

They were in the kitchen which had the largest comfortable table, so that was where the Avengers ate. Tony had only been here about three times before, then he'd gone and locked himself in his workshop, but here he was now, waiting for Steve to make breakfast.

"Hey Tony." Steve said, smiling at the ruffled genius.

Tony smirked. "Sorry Steve, did I wake you up?"

Steve scoffed. "No, I was resting my eyes. But actually I was sleeping and you nearly gave me a heart attack." Well, actually, Steve had just been out running, but he wanted to know why he nearly gave Tony a heart attack.

Tony rubbed the back of his head. "People don't generally come into my workshop when I'm working."

"I was told."

"It's a comfy sofa, I don't normally mean to fall asleep. But I'm a light sleeper."

"If I woke you up, then yes, you are a light sleeper."

"I think I'd know, Spangles. I'm the one who gets woken up whenever someone gets a little too close. It's a good thing I can't sleep for a really long time, anyway."

Steve was a little thrown, but he thought that he understood what Tony meant. "Nightmares are cruel." He said, setting down his plate of pancakes. "Take half. No more, though, because I need to eat too."

Tony smiled and took the pancakes, heaping them on his plate and covering them in chocolate sauce. Steve made a face. "How can you cope with so much sugar?"

"Not like it's gonna give me heart problems." Tony quipped.

"But it must taste horrible! I think that most people from my time would have fainted if they saw that much sugar."

"What?" Tony asked, his mouth full of pancake, "Oh, right. Rationing stuff back in the Dark Ages."

"The Dark Ages? Tony, we were at war."

"Didn't you-? Never mind. I'll leave it."

Steve smiled smugly. "So, what are you doing today, Tony?"

Tony sighed. "I have no idea. Maybe I'll just observe the life of Captain America."

"You could do that anyway, Stark. But you can tag along and watch documentaries about everything post my freezing all day with me."

Tony groaned. "That's so boooring Cap!"

"You sound like you're three years old."

* * *

However, Tony did end up watching the so-called boring documentaries. And he enjoyed them a little bit, but he'd never admit it.

At first, he'd tried talking to Steve, but Steve just ignored him, so he'd given up.

First, there was something about the end of the war. Tony hadn't liked that one, because it had hailed his father as a hero.

Then Tony had zoned out for a bit, just watching them rather than thinking about them. He wasn't even sure how Steve had gotten the things to watch in the first place.

They'd watched them until lunch, which Steve had made again. He made a very good omelette.

It had been Tony's turn to get them food when it came to dinner.

Knowing his own cooking ability, he decided not to poison the other avenger and ordered takeout.

* * *

Steve smiled. How did Tony know that he didn't like pepper on pizza?

As he stared at the pizza, Tony said, "I asked JARVIS. Last time you had pizza you took all the peppers off."

"Thanks."

"My turn to pick the movie, Cap. We'll eat this in front of it."

"What do you pick then?"

Tony smiled. "A nice cheesy movie for you. West Side Story."

* * *

Steve groaned. "This movie is so cheesy..."

"I warned you." Tony said. He smiled. They were only half an hour in.

* * *

Steve yawned as the movie credits rolled up. That film was okay... But not that good. He'd seen better.

He jumped as something shifted beside him. Tony. Steve had forgotten that he was there, he'd been so quiet. But now, with the darkness of the screen, his arc reactor was lighting the room.

Steve looked down. Tony was asleep, curled up next to him. He was twitching in his sleep, his face troubled.

"Tony?" Steve whispered, but Tony didn't wake up.

Steve felt a little awkward just sitting there with Tony next to him, bit he didn't move for fear of waking him up. "JARVIS?" He whispered.

JARVIS' voice was quieter than usual when he replied. "I would recommend letting sir sleep as he is. He will most likely not wake up for a while."

Steve nodded and closed his eyes, slowly managing to get to sleep, trying to pretend that Tony's presence didn't make it easier to relax.

And that was how Pepper found the two Avengers a couple of hours later: Them cuddling on the sofa, Tony's head buried in Steve's chest. She wasn't quite sure how the two Avengers had gone from being at each other's throats and watching a movie together, but they'd done it.

Tony never ceased to surprise her. And she knew that every time he did, she just fell deeper and deeper in love with him.

* * *

Pepper wasn't quite sure when Tony and Steve became friends.

She just noticed one day.

There were four of them round the table now, Bruce had an incident and he had to lie low for a bit. And Tony probably wasn't going to let him leave again. He had good fun with whom Pepper had dubbed his science bro. They certainly never failed to find something to talk about.

They were eating breakfast, and Tony was planning some kind of charity event with the Avengers. Thor still wasn't back, but Natasha and Clint would be back within the week.

"Hey, Pepper, when would it be a good day to hold this thing?"

Pepper looked up, and scanned the papers in front of her. "Three months tomorrow, 6th May. It gives you enough time to get it to be a good event, but close enough that Clint and Natasha can get time off their jobs for long enough. They get time off around then for the day they celebrate together as a birthday."

"Huh. Didn't know that." Tony mused. "Did you, Cap?"

Despite Steve's hate of that nickname, _he smiled. _"I did, actually. Clint told me."

"And when was this?"

"Yesterday. He called to tell me the date or something... Called it a good, cheesy joke that most people would get."

Bruce smiled, looking down at his tea. "May the 4th. It's a movie reference, Steve."

"If you don't know the movie, we have to watch it."

Bruce groaned. "Tony, even _I've _seen that movie and I'm not exactly movie cultured. I don't really like it."

"No no!" Tony protested. "All Stark friends, as honoured as they are, have to have seen that movie. We are watching it."

"Tony, I'm sure you have work to do..." Pepper said. In fact, they all knew that Tony had work to do, because there was hate all over the news for all superheroes, and soon enough, the Avengers would have to make public appearances, Tony's being the most important. It was also why they were holding the charity event.

"I'll do some work later, Pepper, I promise." He gave Pepper a quick kiss and put his plate on the side for a cleaning bot. He then grabbed the hands of both Bruce and Steve, looking rather silly as he pulled the two men along into the living space to watch Star Wars.

Huh. Tony called Steve his friend.

* * *

**AN: Yeah, not finished. Oh well, I can't be bothered to make it into a oneshot.**


End file.
